Understudy
by TF141Soldier
Summary: The Zero Requiem: a requiem for Zero. A "What If" oneshot.


Understudy: A Code Geass Oneshot

[*****]

It doesn't take long for Suzaku to make his way onto Lelouch's convoy. The boy had always been a quick worker, tending to each task given to him with the same amount of inhuman precision and agility, but Suzaku was running so quickly his pace was like lightning. He effortlessly evaded the Britannian guns (even though they were never meant to hit him at all), effortlessly curb-stomped Jeremiah (Jeremiah was never meant to win, after all), effortlessly vaulted onto the Emperor's platform (they had made it easy to ascend), and effortlessly smacked Lelouch's pistol away—

 _Wait._

Lelouch began to sweat when he realized the pistol was still firmly ensconced in his palm.

It was the draw of Zero's sword that broke the camel's back. Suzaku faltered; he drew it perfectly, almost artfully, but he hesitated. For a sparse few seconds, the world stopped, and all Lelouch could do was stare. He was supposed to have swiped at Lelouch's pistol. This was scripted. They had _rehearsed_ this _perfectly_.

And yet, at the most crucial moment, he faltered. Lelouch couldn't even hear the din of the crowd, or the chatter of the Black Knights, or Nunnally's pleas, or even the frantic beating of his own heart. He couldn't hear anything except the occasional click of the pistol trembling in his hand, and the sounds of his last, measured breaths.

They had agreed to this plan, months before it was actually put into place. The logic was irrefutably, brutally simple – Emperor Lelouch had to die for there to be even a sliver of peace in the world. Any preexisting chance at peace had long since faded away now that Lelouch and Suzaku had the combined body count of ten natural disasters. Lelouch had sweated to put everything in place leading up to this exact moment. The UFN would pick up the slack once Lelouch's autocracy was abolished, Nunnally would be next in line according to Lelouch's will, Suzaku would watch over her, the Black Knights would be exonerated of their crimes, and Elevens and Britannians alike would have equal rights across the world.

All Lelouch had to do was die. It had been… very difficult to accept this fact.

But the only ones who should fire are those prepared to be fired upon. It took him a long time, but he was finally ready. He was scared, but he was ready.

But the pivotal moment hadn't arrived yet. Suzaku was still as a tree, clenching his sword, holding it level to his chest. And Lelouch had no fucking clue what was going on in the boy's brain.

 _Please not now, Suzaku. Don't do this, don't_ do _this. I'm ready. I expected you to be ready. Why now, of all times, are you_ waiting _?_

Silence. A frantic heartbeat. Beads of sweat. Zero's cape flapping in the breeze. The clink of Suzaku's sword, the metallic clacks of Lelouch's pistol.

Silence.

Silence.

Suzaku raised his sword—

 _Here it comes…_

-and swiped it across Lelouch's forearm. Lelouch cursed, shut his eyes, clenched his fist, there was the sound of a gunshot, the sound of a muffled grunt—

 _Wait._

Lelouch caught his breath, opened his eyes. A patch of red staining Zero's (Suzaku's) illustrious purple suit. A vague whiff of smoke emitting from the pistol. A singular bullet shell, discarded on the ground.

Blood, dripping onto the platform, coating the bullet shell.

 _No._

Lelouch kept his pistol aimed at Suzaku, arm locked in place. Suzaku stumbled for a moment, dropping his sword. The sword clattered down the length of the convoy, landing uselessly on the street in front of the vehicle. Suzaku's arms dropped, hanging by his sides, his body caving in on itself.

 _This gun wasn't supposed to be loaded_

 _I don't ever recall ever putting a magazine in here_

 _Never_

 _And I couldn't have grabbed the wrong gun, I chose this one specifically because it didn't have any rounds in here—_

The moment Lelouch looked at Suzaku, shakily lifting a jittery hand up to his helmet, he realized.

 _No_

Suzaku disengaged the helmet; Lelouch saw bright red blood stain the Plexiglass visor. Suzaku listlessly tossed it away; it tumbled down the convoy once more, landing nearby the discarded sword. His unkempt, curly hair gently flapped in the wind; his pained, austere eyes were looking right at Lelouch.

 _Nononononononononononono_

Suzaku nodded to Lelouch, a gesture that made both of them wince. Suzaku unclasped the brooch of his cape, pulling it off his shoulders, losing so much blood, more and more by the moment—

and he dropped it in front of Lelouch.

He muttered three words to Lelouch, inaudible to everyone else but the Emperor and his victim. These words shook Lelouch to his core, and he finally snapped, flinging his pistol away and reaching out for Suzaku, anything to stop the bleeding—

But it was too late. Suzaku tumbled backwards, his limp body slamming against the front of the convoy, staining the Britannian insignia with blood, before finally falling down in front of Nunnally. Blood was everywhere. Absolutely everywhere.

All the world could do was watch as the life drained from Suzaku Kururugi's heart.

It was supposed to be Lelouch down there. The life was supposed to drain from his heart, not Suzaku's. This wasn't right, this just wasn't right, wasn't fair, this wasn't what supposed to happen, it was supposed to go according to plan.

Or maybe this was Suzaku's plan all along.

Nunnally began sobbing hysterically, clutching at Suzaku's lapels and screaming at him to wake up. Jeremiah was frozen in place down below, gazing at the unexpected scene in horror and confusion. The crowd was uproarious and riotous, and Lelouch wasn't sure if they were screaming bloody murder or cheering. Everything mixed together into one loud, inaudible pot of noise.

Lelouch glanced at his arm, dripping blood. It was staining Zero's cape.

The three words Suzaku had muttered to him kept ringing in his head as he gingerly picked up the cape and put it atop his shoulders. He walked back to his throne, dizzy with vertigo, slumping into his chair with more effort than should have been necessary.

Lelouch gazed into the bright blue sky. It was a stunning day.

And everything had gone completely wrong.

One way or another, Suzaku Kururugi had completely, wholeheartedly condemned him.

[*****]

In the first few days following Zero's apparent demise, the press had gone absolutely wild, and it seemed like new conspiracy theories kept popping up on a moment-to-moment basis. Some people theorized that the Zero that had been slain wasn't the "real Zero", that it was just a doppelganger, and that it was a staged assassination to fool the world into thinking nobody stood in Lelouch vi Britannia's way. Some people theorized that Zero and Lelouch had previously been in cahoots, but that Emperor Lelouch wanted to cover his tracks and prevent Zero from spreading unwanted information.

Some people theorized that Zero was still alive; Jeremiah had quickly brought Suzaku into an on-site medical van, tearing him away from a screaming Nunnally and the shouts of the Black Knights.

But Lelouch knew, from the doctor's diagnosis, that Suzaku Kururugi was dead and gone.

A week after Zero's demise, a document was broadcasted on mass media, beyond Lelouch's control, entitled "Zero's Confession".

Within it were the confessions of "Zero": that he had been manipulating Emperor Lelouch behind the scenes to commit an untold amount of political and war crimes in his name when it seemed like the revolution was about to fail; that Zero had been secretly working for Britannia the entire time, that Lelouch's actions in regards to wiping out the aristocracy and vanquishing the nobles that rebelled against him, including Charles zi Britannia, were all done under Zero's orders; that the vast majority of political and military decisions made under Lelouch's reign were all done in Zero's name. However, the last addendum of the confession proclaimed that the supposed execution of the Black Knights was actually a front, wherein Lelouch vi Britannia would expose Zero's crimes to the world, complete with evidence and footage of Zero manipulating the Emperor, and that Zero was going to attempt and murder the Emperor to clear his name, making him a national hero in the process.

" _If I succeed in killing Emperor Lelouch, then I will truly obtain all the power I have truly desired for so long. Nobody else in the world will stand in my way. If, perchance, I fail… then so be it. The only ones that should fire are those prepared to be fired upon. I am fully prepared to face death on my own terms. I will leave the matters of the world up to him, should I die by his hands, directly or indirectly. That is all. If this is my legacy, then so be it. Make of it what you will._

 _Z"_

This wasn't enough to quench the public's thirst; if anything, it fanned the fire for conspiracy theories. Many cried out that this was a hoax, that it was an effort made by Lelouch to cover up his own tracks. Many cried that it couldn't possibly be real, considering that Zero had made efforts to not leave behind any documents during his tenure with the Black Knights. Lelouch had exonerated the Black Knights after Suzaku passed away, and they had been hounded by the press about questions relating to Zero and his confession, whether the rumors were true or not. A great deal of them had declined comment each time, probably still trying to make sense of it themselves.

It didn't take long for Jeremiah to sniff out the person that had given the confession to the media in the first place. It was a random, practically-faceless grunt, scared stiff and sweating up a storm. The grunt pleaded, in a Geass-induced monotone, that she didn't know any better, that she was simply following Suzaku Kururugi's orders to the letter and nothing. When pressed about those orders by Jeremiah, the grunt deadpanned the entire plot from start to finish.

Lelouch was silent throughout the exchange. It was a mistake, in retrospect, to command his Geass-struck army to follow not only his orders, but Suzaku's and Jeremiah's as well. He stupidly thought he could have trusted Suzaku.

But Suzaku betrayed that trust, manipulating Lelouch's Geass powers to his own advantage.

And now he was dead.

And it was Lelouch's fault for overlooking such a minor detail.

Lelouch wondered if Lloyd and Cecile knew. They were his close colleagues and friends, after all, having served alongside him in the military and supporting his ideals for social change. But Lelouch had already let them go free after the execution fiasco, and he didn't care enough to hunt the scientists down for answers. He'd learned all he needed to.

And what he learned was mesmerizing.

Lelouch thought he'd arranged for absolutely everything, thought that all the tasks at hand had been accounted for, but it was actually Suzaku the entire time. He was the one that destroyed the world, and he was the one created a new world from its remains.

And now, it was up to Lelouch to ensure that new world was a good one.

So he didn't let Suzaku's "confession" go to waste. Lelouch worked to fix the disasters he intentionally orchestrated. He spearheaded an incredible amount of rebuilding efforts, providing funding, support, and supplies for territories and civilizations he'd gravelly wounded or caused collateral damage to during his warmongering as Emperor. He became civil with the UFN, even if the vast majority of its members didn't believe in him or trust him, and began discussing and augmenting global policies and laws alongside them. He kept true to his word and allowed Elevens and other marginalized peoples equal rights, along with the autonomy and independence of Japan, the Chinese Federation, and the European Union. He established a global security and policing force – comprised primarily of people under the control of his Geass – to suppress domestic terrorism and civil wars. He became an advocate for science and education, campaigning for de-segregated schools across the world and using the vast amount of wealth he'd accumulated for more beneficial scientific endeavors beyond making robots.

He hadn't been entirely forgiven, of course. People rarely forgave or forgot the crimes he'd committed, and a good deal of his policies were reluctantly instilled. But they were put into place nevertheless, and Lelouch and Suzaku's ideal world was, bit by bit, becoming a reality.

And yet, Lelouch was still haunted by Suzaku. Still haunted by what he'd said to him before he died.

C.C. had eventually returned to Lelouch. She had folded her arms and asked Lelouch why the plan had suddenly changed at the last minute, but she'd taken a closer look into his tired eyes and got the answer she needed from them. Nothing needed to be said.

Lelouch had Zero's cape burned, thrown into an incineration pit. It made him think too much about that fateful, dreadful day. He'd kept it around for a while, deluding himself into thinking it was a memento for Suzaku, that it was the only way to remember his best friend, but Lelouch had eventually come to the conclusion that he didn't need any material objects to remember him by. The memories and the weight and meaning of Suzaku's actions were enough.

C.C. stood next to Lelouch, holding his hand, and they watched as Zero's once mighty cape turned into a thick pile of ash, the fire dancing before their eyes.

"…He told me something right before he died," Lelouch whispered, his voice thick and scratchy from disuse. He didn't talk much beyond his public speeches, not anymore.

C.C. glanced at him. Lelouch wasn't wearing his usual, gaudy Emperor's clothing; he was wearing his simple, comfortable Ashford Academy uniform. It didn't fit him as well as it used to, but it was still indubitably Lelouch.

"It was right after I'd shot him. I think he said it to… try and bring me peace. But… even after all this time, it hasn't. Not at all."

C.C. squeezed Lelouch's hand, searched his eyes. "Pray tell. What did Kururugi say?"

Lelouch gazed at the fire, wondered how much of it he'd quelled. It was a stunning fire.

And then he smiled as he felt tears strain his eyes.


End file.
